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WHETsToNE Patented Nov. 6,1894.' 'l

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1n: nonms Evans co. PNo'roL Y UNITED STATESI PATENT OFFICE.

RUFUS DUTTON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

WH ETSTON E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 528,7 '72, dated`November 6, 1894. Application filed December 13, 1893. Serial No.493,589. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, RUFUS DUTTON, a citizen of the United States, and aresidentof New lYork, in the county and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Whetstones, of which thefollowing is a specification. v

My invention relates to improvements in whetstones, especially such asare used for sharpening the knives of mowing machines and scythes,though the whetstone can also be advantageously used for other purposes,such as smoothing the surfaces of castings.

Particularly my invention consists, Afirst, in the combination with thewhetstone of handles secured at each end thereof by a rod which passesthrough the interior of the stone, so as to leave all the faces of thestone available for use. This construction is of great utility, sincethe stone can be formed with many working faces, each of which can beused when the others are worn out whereas, when the handles areconnected in the manner heretofore known in the art, by rods or otherfastenings outside the stone, such rods or fastenings prevent using someone at least of the faces of the stone. This arrangement of the rodthrough the stone and the' consequent compression of the ends of thestone. by the handles or their anges is also very.

useful in strengthening the stone and .preventing its breaking.

In the second place, my invention consists in the employment of ahollow, somewhat porous stone, in combination with means for closing thecavity in the stone, (which cavity forms a water chamber) so as topractically exclude the external air. In this manner the water in thechamber is drawn through the porous stone by capillary attraction, andto some extent even against the external atmospheric pressure, wherebythe feed of the water.

to the working faces is rendered very regular and slow, and only enoughwater passes through the stone to properly wet the said workingsurfaces.

Referring to the drawings which accompany this specication to aid thedescription,

Figure l is a longitudinal section of the whetstone and handlescomplete, in that case when one of the working faces of the stone iscorrugated. Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line x-w of Fig. landlooking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 3 is a cross section on theline y-y of Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is a cross sectional view of a stone havingsix faces, two opposite of which are corrugated. Fig. 5 is a crosssectional view of a stone which has one yface somewhat rounded. Another,and flat face, is shown as being corrugated.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, A is the stone, formed of any suitablematerial, as emery composition, somewhat porous, and having alongitudinal cavity B that forms a water chamber. f Through the chamberB extends the rod C, being sufficiently small to leave a good waterspace around it. Thus, for example, if the chamber B is tive-eighths ofan inch in diameter, the rod C will be about onequarter inch. Said rod Cis employed to fasten the handles D E on the stone A in the followingmauner: Said handle D is hollow, as

shown, and has shoulders d, d on which bears the cross bar c of the rodC, and to prevent the rod C from turning, the handle D is provided withwing pieces e, e. A washerf makes a tight joint between the handle D andthe one end of the stone A. At the end opposite to the handle D, theaforesaid rod C passes through a hole in the handleE and is drawn tightbythe nut g and threads on the end of the rodlQ,h being a washer betweenthe handle E and the stone A. Thus the rod C being arranged through theinterior of the stone A does not interfere with the use of any of thesurfaces.

The compression of the stone A between the llanges of the handles D Egreatly strengthens the stone and renders itv less liable to break.

The handle D is formed, as shown, to be grasped by the right hand of theoperator, and with a neck e' to receive a cork j. The handle E isprovided with a finger postkproj ecting about at right angles from oneside, and adapted to be held by the thumb and index linger of theoperators left hand. In use, the post 7c will be turn ed away from theknife, scythe, &c., that is being operated on, so that the hand is outof the way and not liable to be cut. This arrangement of the handle F.with the nger post la is, therefore, of much utility and is, I believe,new in the art.

I have found that the whetstone can be advantageously used for smoothingcastings,

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and that when intended for such use it is desirable to have some one ormore of the faces of the stone corrugated, since experiment proves thatthe composition of which the stone is formed comes from the molds, inwhich it is made in the usual manner, too smooth to at first bite thecastings. Therefore, I prefer to form on at least one su rface of thestone corrugations Z, somewhat like the teeth of a fiat tile, butcoarser. (See Figs. l and 3.) In Fig. 4 such corrugations arerepresented as formed on two and opposite faces of the stone, and Iprefer to so arrange them, although in Figs. l and 3 they are shown ononly one face; aiso,when the corrugations are arranged on two oppositefaces of the stone, the said corrugations can be finer on one face thanon the other, and so adapted to different classes of work. As, however,corrugations are not desirable in sharpening knives, scythes, rbc., Iprefer to have some of the faces of the stone smooth, without anycorrugations.

It is to be understood that when using, the chamber B and also thehandle D are lled with water. Then, the Corky being putin the externalatmosphere is excluded from the water, andthe capillary attraction drawsthe water through the stone to some extent against the pressure of theatmosphere. I find this results in a slow and regular feed whichprevents too much water from passing through the stone.

When one face, a., of the stone wears down as much as it should, thehandle` E is turned by slacking the nut g until the finger post 7a isbrought diametrically opposite to another face 0.. Then the nut gistightened, and the said face a is employed.

In Fig. 4 I show a stone A with siX faces, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, two ofwhich are corrugated. When one face wears down, the handle E would beturned the sixth part of a circumference, so as to bring the finger postopposite to the next face, and so on, the finger post being alwaysdiametrically opposite to that face which is to be used. Of course thestone may have any number of faces. i

In Fig. 5 I show the stone A2 formed with one smooth face, 8, rounded,since I iind that a face of this shape is convenient for sharpening theparts of the blades of scythes, dac., that are near the handle.

It will, of course, be understood that stones shown in Figs. 4 and 5 aresecured to handles in the same manner as shown in Fig. 1 andhereinbefore described.

Now, having described my improvements, I claim as my invention- 1. Inwhetstones, the combination of a stone having a plurality of workingfaces and a handle with a linger post and adapted to be turned about theaxis of the stone, substantially as described.

2. The combination in a whetstone of the perforated stone A containingawater chamber, washers at either end of said chamber, handles D E, oneat `each end of the stone A, finger post 7o on the handle E, waterchamber in the handle D, and rod C tying the said handles D E againstthe aforesaid washers, substantially as described.

3. A whetstone consisting of a hollow stone, containing awater chamberand handles one of said handles having a water chamber which connectswith the chamber in the stone and said handles tensionally connectedthrough the stone, whereby the stone is compressed in the direction ofits length, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses, this 22d day of November, 1893.

' RUFUS DUTTON.

I'Vitnesses:

BERNARD J. IsncKn, PATRICK A. FAY.

